Important Update: Changes to Deep Covered Baker Availability - The Pampered Chef

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Discussion Overview

The thread discusses recent changes to the availability of the Deep Covered Baker, including its transition to a host-only item and the implications for consultants. Participants express their disappointment and frustration regarding these changes and share their personal experiences and concerns about the impact on their sales and demonstrations.

Discussion Character

  • Opinion-based, Anecdotal, Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant, identifying as a consultant, expresses disappointment over the "host only" status of the Deep Covered Baker, preferring it not to be sold at all.
  • Another participant shares their concern about how to inform customers about the changes.
  • Several users mention the importance of the Deep Covered Baker as a booking tool and express frustration about not being able to demo it effectively.
  • One participant notes the manufacturing issues and hopes for a resolution soon.
  • Another participant shares their experience with the product cracking and expresses concern about its reliability.
  • One consultant mentions trying to adapt their sales strategy by organizing a catalog show before the deadline.
  • Another participant expresses shock at the limitations imposed on the number of host-only items that can be sold.
  • One participant reflects on the challenges of adjusting their show plans without the Deep Covered Baker.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Views differ significantly among participants, with some expressing strong frustration and others attempting to find ways to adapt to the changes. No clear consensus emerges regarding the best way to handle the situation.

Contextual Notes

Participants are primarily consultants discussing the implications of product availability changes on their business practices and customer interactions.

Who May Find This Useful

Consultants looking for insights on how peers are reacting to product availability changes and managing their sales strategies may find this discussion relevant.

I just read this and WOW!! I am definately disappointed, but will be pushing it hard during my June shows though.
 
um, my last name starts with "b" and i STILL haven't gotten my email yet....
 
Harriet!! Thank you SO much for sharing..... :D
 
I just sent an email to all of my contacts offering Free Shipping with the purchase of the cranberry DCB. Hopefully, I'll get some takers.
 
Duh --- Can someone explain what the "C&S intro" is? I'm assuming it's not cream & sugar .. or Cher & Sonny ... or --!!??
 
I still haven't gotten my email either. I think this is a great incentive to help get shows booked. I have only sold a couple of them outright anyways, most have been to hostesses. I hosted a show a year ago b/c I wanted one and couldn't afford to get it without hosting.
 
ChefetteDuJour said:
Duh --- Can someone explain what the "C&S intro" is? I'm assuming it's not cream & sugar .. or Cher & Sonny ... or --!!??

cool and serve
 
My initial reaction was OMG, too. But, this company is awesome for taking it off the market before backorders and returns become a major problem. Years ago we had issues with the Chillzane server...it took 5 or 6 months for my guests to get their products. The company gave soup ladles and recipes cards as apologies. I was begging my guests to let PC reimburse them so I could put an email out (about anything) with out them immediately calling me and harrassing me- wondering where there server was...and why can't I get it.

I sent an email out to my guests about the DCB...now I'm horrified by my actions. I do not want that stress again!
 
I thought that the e-mail my director sent out was worth sharing and that is why I posted it here. So you are welcome, but they weren't my words. She worded it in a way that made it seem better to me.
 
ChefCKHall said:
Harriet - you put my thoughts into words and you win my daily hero award!

I shared what my director sent us==can't take the credit.

Thanks for the daily hero award though! I needed something!!!
 
Harriet- I LOVE YOU!!! My thoughts to a "t"! Simply fabulous!! I am soooo excited to see what this does for bookings for those on my team!
 
Harriet -- thank-you for sharing. I just sent your wording out to my team. I was freaking out earlier today (still actually am!), as I've only been in PChef a little less than one year - and the Magic Pot is also my focus at shows. I've sold 83 of them this year - which I believe is quite nice. Thank-you for so positively sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate it. (Now for guests I'll be looking for sales from executive, COOL, and ....?) What's everyone's new "focus!"
 
Got that from my Director as well! Great wording! Joy's flyer say basically the same thing! Great positive spin!
 
When I saw this news posted on Facebook this afternoon I was shocked. I immediatelly called my hospitality director and she had no idea. She started researching and finally found her email in her spam box...crazy place for it to be when she obviously recieves other emails from HO. Anyway, so you might check your spam boxes.
 
Fairly new to PC (< 4 months), but wanted to know if there were any official channels for communicating the displeasure of this decision. Is the best way to e-mail HO? The intent here is not to complain for the sake of complaining. The intent is to inform HO to the impact the DCB has on our sales and the quality of our shows. Singularly this will not have much meaning, but if we could organize a campaign to "Bring back the DCB" we might be able to influence the long term plan (which I hope is to bring it back). I am fine with taking a step back, and getting it right, if that is in fact what is happening. I think some insight into the long term plans would make it easier for everyone to plan out their own long term strategies.
 
What Im sick of is people telling us to put our big girl panties on and get over it! Is it so terribly wrong to voice our concerns and to be upset by this? I know it's not the only thing we sell and I know this is not going to do us in.... but good grief I love my deep covered baker and I love selling my deep covered baker.....
I'm not at a show in front of customers, I'm connecting with fellow PC'ers and shouldn't we be able to talk about it without someone telling us to get over it??? :l
 
mailgirl1978 said:
What Im sick of is people telling us to put our big girl panties on and get over it! Is it so terribly wrong to voice our concerns and to be upset by this? I know it's not the only thing we sell and I know this is not going to do us in.... but good grief I love my deep covered baker and I love selling my deep covered baker.....
I'm not at a show in front of customers, I'm connecting with fellow PC'ers and shouldn't we be able to talk about it without someone telling us to get over it??? :l

I don't think that's really what's being said here. People are coming on here and running around in circles saying the sky is falling. We are trying to put a positive spin on this. Of course people need to be able to vent but if we focus too much on the negative side of this it will reflect on our shows.

blavin said:
Fairly new to PC (< 4 months), but wanted to know if there were any official channels for communicating the displeasure of this decision. Is the best way to e-mail HO? The intent here is not to complain for the sake of complaining. The intent is to inform HO to the impact the DCB has on our sales and the quality of our shows. Singularly this will not have much meaning, but if we could organize a campaign to "Bring back the DCB" we might be able to influence the long term plan (which I hope is to bring it back). I am fine with taking a step back, and getting it right, if that is in fact what is happening. I think some insight into the long term plans would make it easier for everyone to plan out their own long term strategies.


If you read the email closely and listen to what our uplines are saying you will see that they ARE working to bring it back. They did the stop sell on the white dcb so that they could focus on the more popular cranberry dcb and made it host only so that they could build up the supply so that they could handle the demand better. They COULD have put them both on stop sell but they knew that so many of us focus our shows on that product and that customers see the value in it. They wanted there to be a way people could still get it and this was the best option. I would be surprised if they weren't both back available to everyone by fall.
 
Last edited:
blavin said:
Fairly new to PC (< 4 months), but wanted to know if there were any official channels for communicating the displeasure of this decision. Is the best way to e-mail HO? The intent here is not to complain for the sake of complaining. The intent is to inform HO to the impact the DCB has on our sales and the quality of our shows. Singularly this will not have much meaning, but if we could organize a campaign to "Bring back the DCB" we might be able to influence the long term plan (which I hope is to bring it back). I am fine with taking a step back, and getting it right, if that is in fact what is happening. I think some insight into the long term plans would make it easier for everyone to plan out their own long term strategies.


The problem lies with in the manufacturer, not HO. They are not able to keep up with the demand of the product. HO really has no other choice not knowing when the manufacturer is going to keep up with the demand. At least they are not stopping it for sale all together!
 
I'm disappointed, but I appreciate the tack the HO is taking. They aren't discontinuing the DCB altogether. It sounds like they are diligently working to get this top-selling product back to full as soon as possible. Actually, this could help us in the short-term with sales (get it now while you can) and bookings (once it's host-only). Scarcity breeds demand. That's why people stood in line for hours to get one of the Cabbage Patch Dolls that arrived at their local store. Talk about how they're so popular that the manufacturer can't keep up. That's the sign of a great product.
 
I wasn't suggesting it was HO's fault. Hope you all are right. The DCB is great for shows because it's just so damn versatile.
 
My show centers around it too. But here is an idea. I plan to get a 4-5 chicken, cook it for the host at the show and tell the guests that my job is to pamper the host, and I am doing so with this very exclusive host only item that she can get with her benefits. When you book a show I will cook you dinner for that night too! So my new tag line is "Hope to be cooking for you soon!" I think it will work. Good luch to us all.
 
BethCooks4U said:
I don't think that's really what's being said here. People are coming on here and running around in circles saying the sky is falling. We are trying to put a positive spin on this. Of course people need to be able to vent but if we focus too much on the negative side of this it will reflect on our shows.


If you read the email closely and listen to what our uplines are saying you will see that they ARE working to bring it back. They did the stop sell on the white dcb so that they could focus on the more popular cranberry dcb and made it host only so that they could build up the supply so that they could handle the demand better. They COULD have put them both on stop sell but they knew that so many of us focus our shows on that product and that customers see the value in it. They wanted there to be a way people could still get it and this was the best option. I would be surprised if they weren't both back available to everyone by fall.

If you read back on some previous comments it is EXACTLY what some have been saying...one in particular I read that said for us "to put on our big girl panties and get over it". Just because I'm upset about it doesn't mean I think the sky is falling...it's just a shame that we can't voice this without someone telling us to get over it. Being positive is great and I appreciate that some are trying to get us to look at the bright side of things, however, it just happened! Can you let some of discuss our grief over this without the positive being shoved down our throats...it's quite ok for some of us to be angry and upset about this if that's what we choose to do.

Also, that second quote was not mine but you pasted it as it came from me.
 
mailgirl1978 said:
If you read back on some previous comments it is EXACTLY what some have been saying...one in particular I read that said for us "to put on our big girl panties and get over it". Just because I'm upset about it doesn't mean I think the sky is falling...it's just a shame that we can't voice this without someone telling us to get over it. Being positive is great and I appreciate that some are trying to get us to look at the bright side of things, however, it just happened! Can you let some of discuss our grief over this without the positive being shoved down our throats...it's quite ok for some of us to be angry and upset about this if that's what we choose to do.

Also, that second quote was not mine but you pasted it as it came from me.

Sorry. I fixed the posting. I don't know how it pasted your info on that second quote. :confused:

I understand that people are upset and I agree that we all need time to process but the longer we complain the lower the spiral goes. I saw that posting too about "big girl panties". Personally I hate that phrase. It's like saying "get over it".

Just because we put a "positive" spin on it doesn't mean we're shoving it down your throat. If you choose to wallow by all means do so. Everyone works things out in their own way. But that doesn't mean we can't give ideas about how to make it work. You know some people had to get beyond the initial shock and disappointment for a show yesterday evening. They needed ideas to make it okay in their minds right now not next week after we're all done mourning.

Oh, and the sky is falling was not referring to you - it was so many people wringing their hands and pulling their hair over this. Generalities. Not anything personal.
 
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  • #114
mailgirl1978 said:
If you read back on some previous comments it is EXACTLY what some have been saying...one in particular I read that said for us "to put on our big girl panties and get over it". Just because I'm upset about it doesn't mean I think the sky is falling...it's just a shame that we can't voice this without someone telling us to get over it. Being positive is great and I appreciate that some are trying to get us to look at the bright side of things, however, it just happened! Can you let some of discuss our grief over this without the positive being shoved down our throats...it's quite ok for some of us to be angry and upset about this if that's what we choose to do.Also, that second quote was not mine but you pasted it as it came from me.
Hi!!
That posting about putting on your big girl panties and getting over it - that was from me :)
And nope, I don't regret it, I am not sorry and I don't take it back.
I meant it.
We've been selling the Deep Covered Baker for what? About 4 years now?
I had a thriving business long before we introduced the Deep Covered Baker. the Deep Covered Baker is NOT what makes us such an amazing company - what makes this an amazing company is ALL that we have, the people who present the demos, the staff behind us at Home Office.
I'm sorry, but the sky is NOT falling, the world is NOT ending.
Have your 15 minute rant, tantrum, pity party or whatever you want to call it (I had mine yesterday as soon as I got the email. I called my husband, whined for 15 minutes...and then GOT OVER IT).
Stop dwelling on the negative (unless of course you want your customers to dwell on the negative - that's up to you) and focus on the POSITIVE...if you focus on the positives, your customers will, too...and it'll show in your sales and recruiting.
It's okay - you can call me a witch, unsympathetic, nasty, etc...I am a realist. Whining isn't going to change anything (at least not in a positive way). I choose to WORK my business, not be negative about it.
 
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  • #115
BethCooks4U said:
I understand that people are upset and I agree that we all need time to process but the longer we complain the lower the spiral goes. I saw that posting too about "big girl panties". Personally I hate that phrase. It's like saying "get over it".

I apologize, Beth, for using a phrase you dislike...unfortunately I really did mean "get over it." Sorry LOL
 
dannyzmom said:
Stop dwelling on the negative (unless of course you want your customers to dwell on the negative - that's up to you) and focus on the POSITIVE...if you focus on the positives, your customers will, too...and it'll show in your sales and recruiting.
Carolyn is absolutely correct. Yes we've all been caught off-guard. That was yesterday. Its a small loss compared to other portions of our lives (and reality). I mourned for an hour. I slowly got over it (posting here on CS helped.)Light a candle, have some ice cream, look at your children, grandchildren, life partners, friends and the people you love. They're much more important to you than a Deep Covered Baker.
dannyzmom said:
It's okay - you can call me a witch, unsympathetic, nasty, etc.
Honey, you've been called much stronger names than that. Many, over the years, have stuck!D
 
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  • #117
blavin said:
Fairly new to PC (< 4 months), but wanted to know if there were any official channels for communicating the displeasure of this decision. Is the best way to e-mail HO? The intent here is not to complain for the sake of complaining. The intent is to inform HO to the impact the DCB has on our sales and the quality of our shows. Singularly this will not have much meaning, but if we could organize a campaign to "Bring back the DCB" we might be able to influence the long term plan (which I hope is to bring it back). I am fine with taking a step back, and getting it right, if that is in fact what is happening. I think some insight into the long term plans would make it easier for everyone to plan out their own long term strategies.

What would you like to see HO do that they're not already doing?
They're getting their manufacturers to make more of them, they're avoiding indefinite backorders,I'm not sure how they could have handled it any better.
 
Carolyn, I completely agree with you.

I had my tantrum for a while, vented, and now facing the facts that nothing is going to change reality and what "is" is...so now we all have to focus on the positive, I've always demoed the DCB as a booking tool, it's not the end all be all in the catalog, so just decide how you are going to present the facts in the most positive way possible, even if you aren't feeling positive about it at the time. This too shall pass and we will all "get over it" and move on! LOL

And to anyone else who is reading, Carolyn is an Advanced Director, so I think she knows what she's talking about! :)
 
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  • #119
RMDave said:
Carolyn is absolutely correct. Yes we've all been caught off-guard. That was yesterday. Its a small loss compared to other portions of our lives (and reality). I mourned for an hour. I slowly got over it (posting here on CS helped.)

Light a candle, have some ice cream, look at your children, grandchildren, life partners, friends and the people you love. They're much more important to you than a Deep Covered Baker.



Honey, you've been called much stronger names than that. Many, over the years, have stuck!

D

I sure do love you Mr. Barton - you're like totally my bestie :)
:::said in my best valley girl voice:::::::
 
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  • #120
chefsteph07 said:
Carolyn, I completely agree with you.

I had my tantrum for a while, vented, and now facing the facts that nothing is going to change reality and what "is" is...so now we all have to focus on the positive, I've always demoed the DCB as a booking tool, it's not the end all be all in the catalog, so just decide how you are going to present the facts in the most positive way possible, even if you aren't feeling positive about it at the time. This too shall pass and we will all "get over it" and move on! LOL

And to anyone else who is reading, Carolyn is an Advanced Director, so I think she knows what she's talking about! :)

Hahahah!! Need to fix that - I am back down to Director - LOL
But hey - you don't become an Elite Seller and hit TPC/Excellence Awards EVERY YEAR in personal sales by whining and complaining - believe me!
 

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